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Sunday, 24 November 2013

Last October, Muslims from the urban municipality of Viana,
Luanda, attended the destruction of the minaret of their mosque Zengo.

LUANDA – According to several Angolan newspapers, Angola has become
the first country in the world to ban Islam and Muslims, taking first
measures by destroying mosques in the country.
“The process of
legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice
and Human Rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice,”
Rosa Cruz e Silva, the Angolan Minister of Culture, was quoted by Agence
Ecofin on Friday, November 22.
Silva comments were given during her visit last Tuesday to the 6th Commission of the National Assembly.
She asserted that the decision was the latest is a series of efforts to ban ‘illegal’ religious sects.
According
to the minister, the action was necessary to fight relentlessly against
the emergence of congregations whose worshipping is contradicting with
the customs of the Angolan culture.
Same as Islam, other faiths which were not legalized will face closure of their houses of worship.
“All
sects on the list published by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
in the Angolan newspaper ‘Jornal de Angola’ are prohibited to conduct
worship, so they should keep their doors closed," she was quoted by Cameroon Voice‏.
"In addition, we also have a long list of more than a thousand legalization applications,” she added.Recurrent
The
anti-Islam comments were not the first by Angolan officials after
several hostile actions have been conducted in several cities across
Angola.
"This is the final end of Islamic influence in our country", said the President, José Eduardo dos Santos.
Last
October, Muslims from the urban municipality of Viana, Luanda, attended
the destruction of the minaret of their mosque Zengo.
The
provincial governor of Luanda, Bento Bento, said on the airwaves of
local radio that "radical Muslims are not welcome in Angola and the
Angolan government is not ready for the legalization of mosques."
He
added that Muslims were not welcome in Angola and that the government
would not legalize the presence of mosques in the country.
According to CIA Factbook, 47% of Angolans practice indigenous beliefs, 38% Roman Catholic and 15% Protestant.